Exercising Anywhere

Reducing friction in your life so that you can exercise in simple and accessible ways helps ensure that you’ll do the exercising.

What I read: “7 Exercises You Can Do Anywhere, Anytime” North Carolina State University. Published July 16, 2018.

As I write this, I’m traveling on a plane to Austin, Texas, to attend a conference. Last night while I was packing, I grabbed my exercise gloves and resistance bands, ready to toss them in my luggage. As I held them in my hands, scanning the already packed suitcase I feared might not comply with the 50 pounds maximum the airline requires, I put them back and didn’t pack them.

That made me think about one of the things I’ve discovered as I’ve attempted over the last few months to exercise again with more regularity. The less friction I can build into the exercise process, the more likely I am to do it.

For example, when at home, if I need to go into the other room to grab my resistance bands and the gloves I use with them, the less likely I am to do it. Same for if I need to strip my daily clothing off and replace it with workout clothing. When I used to go to a gym a few days a week, something I did for many years, strong friction loomed on many of those days resulting in me halting the process, gym bag untouched.

I’m not lazy. Ask anyone in my immediate social sphere if I’m lazy and they’ll likely proclaim I’m too busy and say yes to commitments of my time far too frequently. Often, I’ll tell people I don’t do idle well, and it’s true. I’m confident in saying I’m not a lazy person and am ready to do what needs to get done to complete a task or project. My positive daily habits are rather solid too. I’m many things, but lazy isn’t one of them.

So, why does exercising often seem like a chore and not a joy? What stops me from doing it? I’ve concluded that, as least for me, it’s the friction, those nagging preemptive undertakings to prepare me to exercise or the restrictive scheduling constraints. That might be just the minute or two it takes to grab a piece of equipment or change clothes, or it might be the few blocks walk to a gym where I’ll need to partake in the ritual of stripping down, dressing, working out, stripping down, showering, and dressing before the entire process is complete. I got a bit tired just typing that.

Don’t get me wrong. I fully support people doing whatever it takes to insert enough exercise of whatever type they choose into their life. Weight training at a gym. Yoga classes at a studio. Aerobics with a group in the park. All that’s wonderful and I’m happy people can find the means of exercise that resonates with them. I’ve done all that and more as a fairly regular exerciser since a young age.

But nowadays, and I admit perhaps it’s in part because of my older age, I find simple exercise regimens at home or when traveling fit best into my life. Exercise that takes no equipment or special garb whatsoever naturally finds its way into my day-to-day schedule more readily than any formal or more burdensome exercise does.

Admittedly, I’m also not clamoring for the highly muscled body that I might have once desired. These days, if I’m relatively lean, with good muscle tone, and can move my body in all the ways I want to, that’s enough for me. When I see a muscle pop up more prominently after a stretch of time when I’ve exercised more heavily, I smile. It’s nice to see. But it’s not enough of a dopamine hit to keep me steadfastly hitting it hard.

Thus, when I stumbled across the article to which I linked, I stopped and read it. Yes, I thought, for me, and for many of us I believe, exercise that can be done anywhere at anytime ensures that the much-needed exercise will happen.

The article on North Carolina State University’s website is speaking mostly to their enrolled college students, but I think it applies to everyone.

As a college student, traveling business professional or someone simply living a busy life, getting to the gym can sometimes seem like an overwhelming commitment. Luckily, if you apply the right strategy, a living room or a backyard may be all you need to accomplish your fitness goals. The following list of bodyweight exercises do not require going to the gym or exercise equipment. They’re all free, simple and can be done anywhere at anytime.

Other things I’ve seen lately seen echo the same sentiment.

The Anytime, Anywhere Exercise Book: 300+ quick and easy exercises you can do whenever you want! (paid link) by Joan Price is all about offering the reader a host of exercise choices that can be done whenever you want.

This article in Women’s Health Magazine, “exercise anywhere,” by Lara Rosenbaum, is about exercising anywhere and offers some great advice.

This video by SilverSneakers, “4 Bodyweight Exercises You Can Do Anywhere,” mentions four of the exercises I tend to use often for quick fitness breaks throughout my day.

“7 Simple Exercises Busy People Can Do Anywhere, Anytime” by Karla Jennings, offers a lot of the same simple exercise advice.

There are lots of people like me, people who experience the friction that keeps them from exercise. Many people clearly enjoy more complex fitness strategies. Or, if they don’t enjoy them, they at least have figured out how to get it done somehow. Good for them. But for the rest of us mortals who never did or don’t want more complicated exercise regimens added to our lives, the concept of being able to exercise anywhere, anytime, without any special equipment or clothing, is appealing.

As background, I exercised a lot in past years. 10 years of competitive gymnastics. 7 years as a professional dancer. Time as a trained and certified aerobics instructor. A marathon and 15 10Ks run when running was a regular part of my life. Years of yoga classes and at-home practice. Decades of on and off again weight training in gyms. And more.

All that said, I like it simple and easy these days. It’s where I’m at in life. My stance is that some exercise is always better than no exercise. Whatever gets it done while also not being such a negative experience that one faces it with dread.

Here's what I do currently. It works for me. Maybe some people reading this will find this motivating to create a personalized exercise regimen that works for them. It should be noted that my nearly 70-year-old body has some annoying glitches – a bad shoulder, a tricky knee, a few pains here and there. Adaptation is where it’s at and I adapt and work around them in whatever ways I can.

I walk. A lot. Luckily, I live in San Francisco where walking is a readily available option. I don’t own a car. That forces me to walk more than if I had one. Years ago, I’d use apps to count my steps. I don’t any longer. Even tapping away on the app to find out how many steps I walked created enough friction to become mildly burdensome. I just walk. As much as I can. I have no idea how many steps I walk every day and don’t really care.

Years ago, I was an avid yoga practitioner. I still consider it the ideal exercise practice for nearly everyone because it’s so adaptable. (If taught and done correctly. Yoga is not a competitive sport even though some seem to treat it as such.) Since I have decent baseline knowledge from years of yoga and other fitness practices to know how to move and stretch my body with good form, I can exercise knowing I won’t hurt myself. Some of the movements I do are classic or modified yoga. Many of them are simply ways that I know my body moves and stretches best.

I consciously breathe a few times a day. What do I mean by that? I calm my mind and body and do slow in and out deep breathing in alignment with training from my many days in yoga classes or meditation training. Conscious, slow breathing has so many benefits that are well documented. I try to do this a few times a day.

Calisthenics, also known as bodyweight exercises, happen throughout my day. I do lots of pushups or squats. There are all kinds of bodyweight exercises you can do to get more fit and build tone and muscle. If there’s an overhead bar available where I am, I do some pullups to increase the exercise of my back and biceps, but so often there’s no bar and I don’t let not having one stop me from doing whatever I can.

Yesterday I did my squats while holding my cat. He loved it and purred louder than I’ve ever heard before. He was a few extra pounds and I figured it would add some weight to my squats, make him happy, and make me happy because when either of our two cats purrs in my presence I can feel my insides relaxing. (Cats are therapeutic. I’m sure dogs are too.)

While some people exercise entirely in one session, I split my sessions up throughout the day. I just works better for how I function. Whether I have one minute, five minutes, or 30 minutes, I do what fits into the available time slot.

My exercise strategy reduces the amount of friction in my life so that I’ll do the exercising. I don’t tell myself I’ll go for a 30-minute walk. I just walk whenever I have time and can. I don’t carve out 30 minutes or an hour for a calisthenics session. I might do 20 pushups now, 30 squats an hour from now, and a stretching session later. It doesn’t take long to stop, relax, and breathe so I do it throughout the day and starting or ending my day with it tends to serve as a form of meditation which I highly recommend.

The bottom line is exercising is always good for you no matter whether it’s a simple strategy like mine or you avidly stick to a more complex, formalized, or timebound approach.

One caveat. If you’re someone who’s never been taught good exercise fundamentals and form, learn them. Take a class. Hire a trainer. Watch some videos.

Talk to your doctor if you have any worries that your physical condition precludes certain types of exercising. Prudent caution is always important, but there’s usually some form of exercise you can do. Even physically challenged or chair or bed bound people can often do some form of adapted exercise. I recall watching public television years ago and seeing a woman who had a regular show in which all the exercises she demonstrated were done seated.

If you’ve hesitated to exercise, just do it. Do one pushup, right now. If you have to do them from your knees, do them that way. Bend your legs into a squat, right now wherever you are. Can you only squat down a few inches? Fine. Do that. Slowly bend and try to touch your toes. Stretching feels so damn good. Breathe deeply in and out, right now. Do that whenever you can. You’ll be more relaxed which is always a benefit. Do all this per your doctor’s guidance and utilizing good exercise form. But do it.

I’m still sitting in a airplane seat as I finish this post. I’m going to close my laptop, stretch however I can, and do a bit of calming breathing, because that’s what I can do in the situation I’m in. So, I’m just going to do it.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

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